Camp Of Friends Introduces Migrants` Children To Beach

June 19, 1986|By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer

OCA RATON -- It was a great day for the beach. The children romped in the ocean waves, drops of water glistening on their faces. Some fashioned sandcastles, while others buried themselves in the sand. Some combed the beach for seashells.

``The typical kid in Boca has the opportunity to go to the beach, bowling and the movies,`` said David Currier, a Boca Raton physical education teacher who stood on the beach, watching the children play shortly before he joined them. ``Some of these kids never have the opportunity. I`ve worked at summer camps before, but it`s a lot more rewarding seeing these kids have fun.``

This is summer camp for children of migrant workers -- Campo Allegre, meaning ``Camp of Friends`` in Spanish.

``It`s for farm workers` children who don`t have to attend summer school,`` said Janet Hadley, outreach coordinator for St. Gregory`s Episcopal Church. ``Their marks have to be good. They work hard for good marks to be able to come to summer camp.``

``I`ve had more calls this week asking `Can`t I come this week before I start (summer) school?``` said Donna Goray, chairwoman of the Farmworkers Coordination Council of Palm Beach County.

This is summer camp Boca Raton style.

``They`re going to get tennis lessons this year and I want to give them golf lessons,`` said Hadley.

The month-long camp is free to the children, who range from 5 to 14 years old. Seven Palm Beach County churches and one synagogue underwrite the cost of the camp at $144 per child, which includes the cost of paying lifeguards and counselors. Also, members of each congregation volunteer to cook or watch the children and four congregations have paid for meals each week.

About 53 children, bused in from various points throughout the county in a bus donated by Delray Beach farmer Ted Winsberg, spent the day at the beach on Wednesday, followed by a hamburger and hot dog barbecue.

``Some of them have never seen (the beach) before,`` Goray said. ``You`ll see 5-year-olds swimming today after just two days in the water. There`s one girl who refuses to get her face wet.``

Not Iris Santiago. The 13-year-old Delray Beach girl, whose parents came from Puerto Rico, hardly could be coaxed from the water.

``It`s fun,`` she said. ``We go on a lot of field trips and we make a lot of friends.``

The camp was begun six years ago by a nun at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Sister Immaculata Murphy, who last year moved to Ireland to become head of her order, the Sisters of Mercy of Skibereen, Ireland. The camp began with 35 children and one church and has since doubled and become an interfaith effort.

Every year, Goray said, she sends Murphy a picture of the children.

Goray said the children would be doing ``absolutely nothing,`` if they didn`t have a summer camp to attend.

``Most parents are working or doing something else. If the farms are closed, then there`s cleaning to do. The children are left alone and unattended,`` she said.

``When you talk about what religion is all about, it`s outreach,`` Hadley said.

``They like the attention. They like to know we care,`` Goray said.

In addition to tennis lessons, the children will bowl, roller-skate, swim and play team sports. The camp also has an element of safety-consciousness -- children will visit a police station for fingerprinting.